Buddists

Budapest, Hungary
On the 7 hr train from Prague we met this korean lady who wanted to practice her english. My mom kept saying YOU CAN BE MY KOREAN PENPAL. I think the korean lady thought penpal was something weird or vulgar because she always looked slightly confused. As good, extremely interesting Americans- we taught her how to talk about the weather and right wing politics. We explained the concept of humidity and Mom expressed her feelings about Bush and Monica Lewinsky. She almost went into detail on the latter which would have been the most disturbing lost-in-translation conversation ever. So thank god that didn't happen. The korean lady had a small boy thats like 3 yrs old. He kept asking me to draw cars. I think I drew like 100. Then he asked me to draw a train. I think car is mpaaa? and train is ditaa? I have no clue but if you know my drawing skills, then you know I definitely sacrificed my dignity for this miniature person.
Our hostel in Budapest was really nice and had about a million rules, for example: no throwing objects out windows at cars, no taking food or alcohol from restaurant to room, no windows open after 10pm....etc. Nope, this country was never communist. We discovered Budapest has REALLY good food and it's cheap. We found this italian place 2 doors down and my mom was obsessed and decided she'd be okay if we ate there every night. I swear, my mom used to say that me and my dad are creatures of habit but they are worse. Whenever we travel they find one place (cafe, restaurant, store) and that's the only one they want to go to. I'm like come on Mom, lets walk around. Well the 2nd night I convince her to go to this restuarant my lonely planet recommended and she was stoked. It was such a rad restaurant. It was kinda like 70s silverlake decor/Todd Oldham designs if he had 30k to spend. It was on this beautiful street where they all had terraces outside. So the street was only pedestrian. It had a tiny pathway that went between trees. All the restaurants had beautiful outdoor lighting and it was like we stumbled upon some fairy land place.
For 18 euro ($28) we had:
- Champagne
- Duck in a mango/rasberry sauce with potatoes
- Garlic Soup with Hungarian fried bread
- Waffle covered in chocolate mouse with rasberries and black currents (um, OMG)

I wish I took pictures of the food but my arm decided it was over carrying around my 20lb nikon on like day 5 so I got kinda lazy. I think my mom has a couple.
When we get home Mom realizes she can't find her passport or mastercard. SO unfortunately, our last full day she spends at the police station and US consulate. I decide to walk around and see things she might not want to. I walked around Pest, which is the more urban part and has more stuff. Buda is more historical, pretty side- with castles and a few museums. But other than that it's kinda boring and I actually found that Pest was really cool too. I went to the Terror Haza which was the headquarters of the secret police during the time when Hungary was occupied by the Nazis and later the Soviets. It was pretty creepy and haunting but also really fascinating. The Nazi's put the Arrow Cross party in power (which was basically their version of the National Socialists) and they sent large numbers of Hungarians to concentration camps. Hungary lost approx. 550,000 people during the Holocaust, more than any other country. When the Soviets came, much didn't change. The gulag work-camps basically were the new concetration camp. We did a "Hammer and Sickle tour", our tour guide who was about 31 yrs old, remembers being a pioneer and showed us documents, communist passports and other stuff from the era. It's really freaky to think this was still going on up until the 90s. Also, we didn't know that Hungary used to be one of the largest countries in Europe. It was the shape of a mushroom, extending from the Czech Republic (Czechoslokia), into Slovakia and all the way to Greece. During the war they lost 2/3's of their empire.
I met up with my mom afterwards and we went to the famous Gallert Spa. It was really beautiful but I swear the mineral water pool had like voodoo chemicals in it because my stomach has felt really odd ever since. We also each got a 1 hr massage for 40 euro. I'll miss cheap stuff. For some reason Spa's are so expensive in the US. I don't get it.

things we saw in Budapest:
- Buda: Castle Hill, Gallert Spa & Hotel
- Pest: Octagon, Menza restaurant, Andrassy Utca (main st), Parlament, Danube river, Terror Haza